Smithers provides independent testing of paper and paperboard surface properties to help you understand material performance, compare materials and assess suitability for different applications.
Surface properties can influence how paper and board behave during printing, coating, converting, packing and end use. They can also affect appearance, interaction with liquids, friction and resistance to oils, grease and other substances.
Our paper and board surface testing capabilities include:
- Colour, brightness and opacity
- Roughness and smoothness
- Static and dynamic contact angle
- Grease resistance
- Slip coefficient
- Surface resistivity
- Surface strength using wax pick testing
- Bespoke surface testing for specific materials and applications
Understanding and optimising surface performance
Smithers performs surface property testing to relevant international standards, providing reliable data to support material development, specification, quality control and comparison.
Testing can also be used to investigate unexpected performance or determine how changes to a material, coating or manufacturing process affect its surface properties. This can help you compare potential solutions and balance material performance with other requirements such as cost or processability.
Where established methods do not fully address your requirements, our specialists can develop bespoke test programmes and custom methods around the material, application and performance characteristics you need to understand.
Explore the testing areas on this page to find out more about individual methods and capabilities, or talk to our experts about the material, application or surface performance issue you need to evaluate.